Lompoc Pops Orchestra Turns 25

In a year of significant birthdays for local musical organizations, including the Music Academy of the West (75) and the Santa Barbara Choral Society (75), chalk one up for a North County contingent. The Lompoc Pops Orchestra launches its milestone 25^th anniversary season with a program of Broadway tunes, aka “Bubbles and Broadway,” on Monday, September 19 at the Methodist Church in Lompoc.

For its silver anniversary season, the orchestra, abiding by its mantra “for the love of music,” returns for three more concerts in the 2022-23 season. Christmas music is the theme of choice for its following concert, on December 4, a classics pops program on April 24 and a finale dedicated to the music of Gershwin, on June 19 of next year. 

According to the Lompoc Chamber of Commerce description, “The Lompoc Pops Orchestra, composed of approximately 50 top-notch musicians from up and down the California Central Coast, presents to the community four outstanding concerts each season. Music is primarily well-known favorites that have stood the test of time with the likes of Duke Ellington, John Williams, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Glen Miller, The Beach Boys and more!”

Current conductor Brian Asher Alhadeff is a well-established presence on podiums in the 805, also having served as maestro for the State Street Ballet (including the annual Nutcracker extravaganzas) and Opera San Luis Obispo for the past 12 years. In the township of Lompoc, he swaps his ballet and opera skills for the lighter fare of pops orchestral repertoire, for an ensemble about to pass the quarter-century mark.

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